From the 1950s to early 1973 (Oct 15, 1950-Mar 11, 1973) the Oriental
Institute issued these archaeological newsletters to members and
friends. The newsletters were written mostly by Oriental Institute
faculty and researchers about their travels and work at more than thirty
sites in the Middle East. Issued infrequently, in 1973 Director John A.
Brinkman initiated an expanded newsletter, News & Notes, that
continued the field reports and included other news from the Institute.

Fragmentary Texts is a project directed by Monica Berti and devoted to methodologies and tools for collecting and representing quotations and text re-uses of Classical sources.

In the field of textual criticism,
“fragments” are the result of a work of extraction and interpretation of
information pertaining to lost works that is embedded in surviving
texts. These fragments of information derive from a great variety of
text re-uses that range from verbatim quotations to vague allusions and
translations.

One of the main challenges when looking for traces of lost works is
the reconstruction of the complex relationship between the fragment and
its source of transmission. Pursuing this goal means dealing with three
main tasks: 1) weighing the level of interference played by the author
who has reused and transformed the original context of the fragment; 2)
measuring the distance between the source text and the derived text; 3)
trying to perceive the degree of text re-use and its effects on the
final text.

The first step for rethinking the role of the fragment within its
context is to provide a new methodology for identifying and representing
historical sources based on information technologies. Such an
achievement enables the building of digital collections designed not
only to preserve but also to extend principles that traditional
scholarship has developed over generations, while also representing
every element of print conventions in a more dynamic and interconnected
way.

Collecting text re-uses is a
well-established tradition and the great enterprises of scholars from
the Renaissance onward have permitted us to rediscover and preserve an
inestimable cultural heritage otherwise lost and forgotten. At the same
time, looking for remains of lost works is a very useful methodological
exercise for practicing reconstruction of ancient testimonies, and it is
also a stimulus for interdisciplinarity, given that an editor has to
face a lot of problems deriving from the great variety of subjects and
from many different kinds of texts that usually form a collection of
fragments.

The main goal of this project is to discuss
models and tools for representing quotations and text re-uses in a
digital library, building a collaborative environment for scholars,
students, and enthusiasts who are interested in the topic.

Instrumentum aims to bring together scholars
interested in crafts and industry in the ancient world , whether
historians, archaeologists, ethnologists or economists. The time scale
to be covered is wide : Iron Age, Greek and Roman periods, although some
overlap from the late Bronze Age and into early Middle Ages is
expected.

Geographically, Instrumentum covers Europe and the Mediterranean.

It is hoped that all research on crafts and industry
(bar too specialised ceramology) will be brought together by bringing
attention to published work, and thus elucidating the conditions in
which crafts, industries and manufacturing techniques evolved before the
Middle Ages. Twice a year, Instrumentum issues a news Bulletin,
disseminating information, encouraging research and facilitating
international communications. An up-to-date bibliography, brief notices
on current research and requests for information are included in an
attempt to promote and facilitate research on objects, their use and
manufacture.

From 1996 onwards, Instrumentum started organizing scientific
meetings, on the proposal of active members. The working group also
started a collection of Monographs (Editions Monique Mergoil), with a
first volume issued in June 1997.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP) is a long-term regional study of the
interaction between environmental changes and human activity in the
closed area of the Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, but including
the larger area of the Palaeoasis. The study includes all the time
since the first incursion of humans in the Middle Pleistocene, perhaps
400,000 years ago, down to the 21st century oasis farmers, and all the
human activity and all the changing environmental conditions for which
there is evidence within the time period.To achieve such an assessment, it is necessary to gather data on the
modern environment and all past environmental conditions. The
environment is seen as one of the most important influences on all human
activity. The evidence for this is sought in the geological,
geomorphological, the botanical and the faunal records. These data are
collected by various field workers, specialists in their particular
fields, who ultimately will provide a consensus of the environmental
history of the region. The DOP environmentalists to date are Professor
R. F. Giegengack, Jr., Dr. Jennifer Smith, Professor C. S. Churcher, Dr.
Ursula Thanheiser and Mag. Johannes Walter. Formerly, there have also
been Professor J. C. Ritchie and Professor I. A. Brookes.The activities of humans within these environmental settings must be
investigated by a wide range of expertise. The settling and development
of cultural evolution within the oasis area, the expansion into and from
other Saharan regions and, of course, connections with the Nile Valley
are all of interest. These studies are performed by geoarchaeologists,
Old Stone Age African specialists, Holocene-Neolithic archaeologists,
historical periods specialists – Pharaonic, Ptolemaic-Roman-Christian
archaeologists, Islamic archaeologists; by physical anthropologists, and
by linguists.So far, no social or cultural anthropologists have participated in
the DOP. These investigators include Professor M. R. Kleindienst, Dr. M.
M. A. McDonald, Dr. C. A. Hope, Professor A. J. Mills, Professor F.
Leemhuis, Dr. O. E. Kaper, Professor R. S. Bagnall, Professor J. E.
Molto, Professor M. Woidich, Professor K. A. Worp, Professor I. Gardner,
and a great number of field assistants and experts brought into the
project to study specific specialized aspects of our finds...

A group
of young researchers who completed their studies within the
milieu of the Università degli Studi di Napoli
“L’Orientale” or carried out their post-graduate
research work in the same university started the publication
of Orientalia Parthenopea Journal in June 2005. The
journal collects essays on Eastern Cultures from Eastern
Europe to Far East Asia and Comparative Studies.

All scholars for whom qualitative research methodology
are basic perspectives of orientalistic disciplines, are
welcomed to submit their articles and support our initiative.
There will be published empirical, theoretical and
methodological articles applicable to all fields and
specializations within orientalistic disciplines.

All
those who would like to submit any of their work can send it
to the address of the Editorial Board (see Contacts)
attaching a printout of the text, file, any particular sources
and all information necessary to contact the author.

On
the other hand, all those who would like to have their books
reviewed should send them to the office of the Association (see Contacts).

Shashin, Japanese Canadian Photography to 1942, 2005 [Based on
the Japanese Canadian National Museum’s touring exhibition. The
exhibition was curated by Grace Eiko Thomson, who also coordinated
this catalogue publication that includes essays by Jan Gates,
Imogene Lim, Patricia Roy, Phyllis Senese, Grace Eiko Thomson and
Jim Wolf. Paperback, 92 black and white images throughout the book.
96 pages] (Elisabetta Silvestrini), p. 299

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.